Brookside Bulletin

March 13 - No school (In-lieu of PD/teacher collaboration day

March 30-April 3 - Spring Break

April 5-24 - State Testing Window for Grades 3-5

Happy March, Brookside Families!

When the calendar flips to March, we recognize that we are in our last trimester - and, it is a very important trimester for learning! Most lessons cover entirely new concepts, students are encouraged to apply what they are learning, and independent work increases. Students are maturing and taking on more responsibility. Continue to encourage your children to put forth great effort and praise their successes. We look forward to your continued partnership and appreciate all you do.

Third trimester also includes assessments. For planning purposes, please mark your calendars ahead of time and avoid taking any trips during assessment days:

Ohio State Testing Grades 3-5

• April 7-8 - 5th ELA
• April 9-10 - 3rd & 4th ELA
• April 13-14 - 3rd & 4th Math
• April 15-16 - 5th Math
• April 20-21 - 5th Science

MAP Testing Window April 6-May 8

• Kdg - Math, 1st-2nd ELA & Math, 3rd-4th Science
• Specific dates TBD

While we know assessments are important, we don't want students to feel extra pressure. Simply encourage your children to show what they know and be proud of all they've learned thus far. We are proud of them!

Warmly,

Dr. Jenny Wielinski

Our 2026 State of the Schools highlighted all of the terrific things that are going on in Worthington City Schools. If you were not able to be there, visit our YouTube page or click below to watch the videos that featured our students and staff members. We had a few Brookside students who were interviewed and did a fantastic job! See if you can spot them HERE. It is truly amazing to see how staff members care for, connect with, and inspire students to be their best.

Keep checking the YouTube channel or watch for next week's Worth Knowing newsletter to see the entire show, including the incredible student musical acts.

The Sun Always Shines on Brookside! 🌞

Our Shared Goal: Attendance is a leading indicator of belonging. By focusing on empathy and intentional support, we can keep our students connected and meet our district goals.

Attendance Challenge - 100% attendance - Feb 23-Mar 6

Those with 100% attendance were entered in a raffle for Columbus Crew tickets. Our two winners have been notified. Congratulations!

Brookside fourth and fifth grade students have been creating part of a tifo to help cheer on the Columbus Crew. The Nordecke will sew all the pieces together and unveil the full tifo by hanging it from the rafters during the match on March 14. Thank you for your help fourth and fifth grade students - and thank you, Miss Murray!

Volunteering as a board member for the PTA is a rewarding way to invest in our school community. PTA board positions will be open for the 26-27 school year. If you are interested in volunteering to hold a board position, please email board@brooksidepta.com by March 2nd. Curious about the responsibilities of board members? Check them out here: PTA Board Position Roles and Responsibilities

The Dance: March 7th 6-8:30pm. Fun family night hosted by Worthington Kilbourne Football Team. Here is a FLIER with more information.

BINGO: March 14th 6-8:00pm night to support Worthington Kilbourne Band. Here is a FLIER with more information.

Style Drop:

• Spring Cleaning Clothing Drive (Worthington Back to School Style Drop)

• If the warm weather has you cleaning out your closets, be sure to save items for donation to Worthington Schools Clothing Drive Flyer w. Dates & Acceptable items

• Back To School Style Drop Event Details

• Friday, August 7 @ 5-8 pm

• Saturday, August 8 @ 9 am - 1 pm

• Location: Worthington Operations Center (WOC) - 6465 Busch Blvd, Cols, OH 43229

Ever wish parenting came with a manual—and a supportive community? Join our Triple P Parent Workshop! These sessions are led by trained facilitators and designed for real life. You’ll connect with other parents, share ideas, and walk away with practical tools you can start using at home today.

Parents, grandparents, and community members tell us all the time that we have wonderful teachers, office staff, specialists, assistants, custodians, bus drivers, etc. Now it is your chance to recognize a Brookside staff member for their outstanding dedication, commitment to excellence, and genuine care for others. This is your opportunity to share how you, as a valued member of our school community, have experienced the positive impact of their hard work and uplifting attitude at Brookside Elementary. Simply click the link and fill out the form to nominate an outstanding staff member. Thank you for supporting this new initiative. Golden Bobcat Award Nomination Form.

Golden Bobcats: December - Miss Boyle, January - Mrs. Harrison, February - Mrs. Sayre. Congrats!

For those who have nominated a teacher and/or staff member - THANK YOU! Please know that we share your nomination to the staff member of your choice, regardless if they are selected for the Golden Bobcat of the Month. Everyone appreciates a genuine shout out! Thank you, again. 😁

(For our Golden Bobcats of the Month - monthly entries are put in a randomizer for selection).

Brookside honors our Students of the Month for January and February for their empathy and honesty. These students are full of empathy and have the ability to understand and share the feelings of their classmates, and families. They are honest, trustworthy, and reliable. What terrific role models! Keep up the great work! And, parents...thank you for raising such wonderful children.😊

We have a new attendance email address for the Brookside office. If your child will be absent for any reason, please call (614-450-5300) or email (broattend@wscloud.org) attendance. If you know about a planned absence, please share that information prior to the absence.

Please have your child arrive to school and be an active and engaged learner by our tardy bell at 7:40am. It is important that your child arrives on time as school attendance is calculated by the minute and accumulates quickly when tardy.

Arrival occurs between 7:30am and 7:40am. The tardy bell rings at 7:40am.

Free & Reduced School Meals for Students

Worthington Schools offers Free & Reduced-Price Meals for students who qualify. A new application must be submitted each school year—eligibility does not carry over from the previous year. If you haven’t yet applied for the 2025–2026 school year, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible to avoid any interruption in benefits. For more information and to access the online application, click HERE. Paper applications are also available in the school office.

Student Lunch Accounts

Families can add money to their student's lunch account through My Payments Plus by clicking HERE. You can also use MPP to track your student's account and see much money remains on it. My Payments Plus is also used to pay other fees, like high school parking permits and AP testing fees.

Are you looking for activities, clubs, or events for your kids such as Young Rembrandt's, WYB, etc. If so, click the Worthington Schools Electronic Backpack link below. This is where you will find notifications from groups about memberships, registration, and event dates/times. It's always changing, so check back often!

Electronic Backpack

Dear Worthington School Families: Circle of Grandparents (COG) is a character education program that operates in the Worthington School District, having been established in the year 2000. With the support of Worthington Schools and the nonprofit Partners for Community and Character, senior volunteers use community-chosen qualities to teach students the importance of good character. We’re looking for volunteers! Our goal is to have a grandparent in each Worthington School elementary classroom. As a “Grandparent”, you can draw from your own life experiences and individual talents to teach concepts of character to your “adopted” class. No classroom or teaching experience is required, COG will provide support and materials to you through monthly, optional meetings. You do not have to be an actual grandparent to participate, however, if you are a grandparent to a child in the Worthington Schools, you may request your grandchild’s class. Any “Grandparent” has the option to choose the school and grade level they wish to assist. This is a wonderful opportunity that benefits all who are involved. Interested in learning more? Please contact Jim McElligott at jamestmcelligott53@gmail.com.

Please read this INFORMATION SHEET to understand what we look for in volunteers.

View our Lost and Found items HERE. Simply call, email or have your student stop by the office if you see an item that belongs to them. Please label all of your student’s belongings so that they are easily reunited.

Brookside uses a car loop for parents who choose to drop their children off in the morning. Please be sure your child is ready to exit the car in a quick, but safe manner on the passenger side only. We do this for safety puproses. Please keep your speed to a crawl. Now and then we have family members who are not familiar with our process or are simply new to our school community so your patience is appreciated. Feel free to park in the front parking spaces to drop your child off should you not use the car loop.

Thank you in advance for adhering to our guidelines. 🙂

Dear Elementary Parents,

Worthington Schools is excited to announce its growing partnership with Securly in safeguarding students. Securly is used to monitor students’ online content, blocking access to inappropriate websites and materials on our school network and school-owned devices. Starting with the 2025/26 school year, Worthington Schools will make the Securly Home app available to elementary families.

Chromebook Content Filtering

District-owned Chromebooks will now have similar content filtering whether they are at school or away. This means that Chromebooks will have a base level of filtering no matter what network they are on. Content filtering is an uphill challenge and a very fine line to ensure students have access to the content and resources needed for effective learning while keeping harmful material at bay. While Internet content is ever-changing, our goal is to ensure a safe online experience.

Parental Control

Parents will have access to a website and mobile app, through Securly, to adjust their student’s district-provided Chromebook filtering levels when the device is away from the district network. You can determine the appropriate categories and sites your student has access to. More details can be found at our Parent Securly Information.

Activity Alerts

Worthington Schools' building leadership receives alerts when activity, such as searches or sites visited, indicates a student may be considering self-harm, harming others, or other inappropriate behaviour. This service was implemented so that school administrators are able to partner with you to provide a safer online experience. While these alerts are not perfect, we feel it is an important tool in ensuring your student’s safety

We take student safety very seriously, and online safety is part of the overall approach. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to your principal. Or if you need specific support from Securly, you can contact them at homesupport@securly.com.

Additional resources can also be viewed below.

Securly Getting Started Video

Securly Home App Walkthrough (English).pdf

Sincerely,

Worthington Schools

Worthington Connects is a community-driven organization dedicated to supporting local families in need year-round. We partner closely with schools to identify families who could benefit from assistance and rely on generous donations from the community to make our efforts possible. Every contribution helps us provide meaningful support to those in need.

If you would like to donate or get involved, please visit https://www.worthingtonconnects.org Families seeking assistance are encouraged to reach out to their school counselors, who work with us to connect resources to those who need them most. Together, we can make a lasting impact in our Worthington community!

Direct donation: https://www.worthingtonconnects.org/giving-page-3

For the safety of children, do not send any nut or peanut items to school in your child's lunch, snack, or school party item as we are a nut and peanut free school. It could literally mean life or death to another child. Thank you in advance for your understanding and compliance.

Please be sure you are observing road safety laws and educating your student(s) as well. Please always stay vigilant.

• Pedestrians: Where neither sidewalk nor shoulder is available, pedestrians shall walk as near to the outside edge of the roadway and only on the left side of the roadway, facing traffic. Any pedestrian upon a roadway shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway. Cross streets at crosswalks or intersections.
• Cyclists: Cyclists should ride on the right half of the roadway, riding with traffic instead of against it. Please wear a helmet!
• Drivers: Yield the right-of-way to pedestrians at intersections and crosswalks.

Field Trip volunteers/chaperones must have their volunteer badges. If you are interested in volunteering in our school or for a field trip. Please go to the district website and follow the instructions HERE.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Parents, if you have not done so this year, please make sure to verify/update information in the Emergency Data Review through the parent portal. You can access the portal* on the WCS website. This process must be completed every year in case of an emergency and in order for your child(ren) to participate in class field trips. Instructions for using the parent portal appear here.

The Special Education Road Map has been translated into 21 different languages!!

This roadmap is helpful to all families, especially families who are just beginning the special education process.

https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Special-Education/Families-of-Students-with-Disabilities

Worthington’s Special Education Key Communicator Committee strives to build positive, productive and collaborative relationships and partnerships amongst the educators and community of families whose children receive special education and related services. We will engage in two-way communication, with the goal being to provide a circle of influence where we can share out and learn from and with each other.

The key communicators will convey information from their building to the committee, as well as information from the committee to their buildings.

The Key Communicators for Brookside are Sandra Sell at snsell74@gmail.com and Emily Smith at lightseekerem@hotmail.com 614-563-3687. Please reach out to either of our communicators if you have questions or topics to discuss.

Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA), provides financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards. Our school receives Title IA funding.

Parents/families of students in our building have a right to know about teacher qualifications and state-mandated assessments. All teachers providing Title I interventions are properly licensed for their positions and anyone can search licensure information on any educator at https://core.ode.state.oh.us/Core4/ODE.CORE.Lic.Profile.Public.UI/ . In addition to being linked here, these documents are available on the Title IA page of our school website.